RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Marquette County >> Northland >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Northland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Northland and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Northland:
    • 46.070581, -87.594231
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Northland
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Marquette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marquette County
    • Since Northland is near Dickinson County and also Menominee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dickinson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Menominee County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Northland

Communities Also Named Northland ...

We found four communities that are also named Northland.

Within Michigan, the name Northland is unique.

Beyond Michigan, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Fayette County
      • This Northland is located in Fayette County and lies 575 miles [925.4 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Northland that is located in Marquette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Northland.
    • Ohio
      • Franklin County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Northland [Franklin County].
    • Ontario
      • This Northland lies 170 miles [273.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Northland that is located in Marquette County.
    • Wisconsin
      • Waupaca County
      • This Northland is located in Waupaca County and lies 128 miles [206 km]<1> to the southwest of the Northland that is located in Marquette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Waupaca County community of Northland.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Northland ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Arnold
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Hardwood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hardwood is located in Dickinson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardwood
  • Helena
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Helps
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Helps is located in Menominee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helps
  • Leapers
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Leapers is located in Menominee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leapers
  • Little Lake
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Plains
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Plains is located in Marquette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plains
  • Ralph
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Rock
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Spruce
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Spruce is located in Dickinson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spruce
  • Woodlawn
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Woodlawn is located in Delta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

How Far From Northland to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Northland to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Northland and extending to:

  • Marquette, which is the Seat of Marquette County, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Northland to Marquette, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 274 miles [441 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 729 miles [1,173.2 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,978 miles [9,620.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,727 miles [10,826.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,625 miles [7,443.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Northland) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Northland could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Northland to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Northland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.0706, Longitude: -87.5942    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.308 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.79 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.229 degrees.